Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle cup holder and, more particularly to a cooling and heating apparatus for a vehicle cup holder that has an improved performance for cooling and heating a beverage by directly cooling or heating the beverage in the cup.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, a cooling and heating apparatus for a cup holder mounted within a vehicle provides a heating or cooling function to the cup holder. When the cup holder is operated in a heating mode, the surface of a cup within the cup holder is heated and the temperature thereof increases. When the temperature of the cooling and heating apparatus for a cup holder is not controlled, the cup holder may be excessively heated, thereby burning a user's hand or causing a beverage to boil and overflow from the cup. In addition, when the apparatus is operated in a cooling mode, half of the thermal energy of the cooled cup holder is wasted in cooling ambient air, thereby causing substantial energy loss, and causing difficulty in rapid cooling of the beverage due to excessive resistance caused by contact with ambient air.
Accordingly, a conventional heating apparatus has an additional temperature sensor attached to the cup holder, and requires an additional logic to control the conventional apparatus, thereby increasing working time and manufacturing cost. Additionally, the sensor of the conventional cup holder may malfunction, which negatively affects the durability and operational reliability of the cooling and heating apparatus for a cup holder.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.